A major terrorism financing investigation has taken an international dimension as the United States government designated a Lagos-based Bureau De Change (BDC) operator, Mukhtar Adamu Muhammad, and three companies linked to him as financial facilitators for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
The development comes amid revelations that Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) had already concluded substantial investigations into the suspect and his businesses before the U.S. sanctions were announced.
Top EFCC officials familiar with the case disclosed that the anti-graft agency had been probing Muhammad and the affected companies for alleged terrorism financing and was preparing criminal charges when the U.S. government moved against them.
“We investigated these individuals and the BDC companies for terrorism financing and were preparing charges against them when the U.S. indicted them,” a source familiar with the investigation revealed.
In a statement issued by U.S. Department of State spokesperson Thomas Pigott, Washington announced sanctions against three individuals and six entities accused of facilitating financial transactions for ISIS operations across multiple countries, including Nigeria, France, Syria, and Türkiye.
At the centre of the Nigerian case is Mukhtar Adamu Muhammad, also known as Mukhtar Muhammad, a Lagos-based foreign exchange operator alleged to have facilitated the movement of funds on behalf of the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), the regional affiliate of ISIS.
According to the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), Muhammad, born on August 2, 1990, allegedly conducted money transfers for ISIS-West Africa and provided financial support to the terrorist organisation.
His reported residential address was listed as No. 45 Abimbola Street, off Capital Road, by Morcas, Agege, Lagos State.
The U.S. Treasury designated Muhammad under Executive Order 13224, as amended, for allegedly providing financial, material, and technological support to ISIS-West Africa.
Also sanctioned were three Lagos-based Bureau De Change companies allegedly linked to him: Nine Exchange, Manhattan Bureau De Change, and Generation Currency Bureau De Change.
According to OFAC, the firms were designated for being owned, controlled, directed by, or acting on behalf of Mukhtar Adamu Muhammad.
The sanctions mean that all assets and interests belonging to the designated persons and companies within U.S. jurisdiction are frozen. U.S. citizens and entities are also prohibited from conducting business transactions with them unless specifically authorised.
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s Sanctions Committee has welcomed the U.S. action, noting that the affected individuals and entities had already been placed on the Nigeria Sanctions List on June 18, 2026, following extensive intelligence gathering and financial investigations.
The committee stated that investigations established reasonable grounds to believe that the individuals and businesses facilitated, financed, supported, or otherwise contributed to the activities of ISWAP and associated terrorist networks.
Other individuals listed alongside Muhammad include Ibrahim Yakubu Ogirima, Adamu Chiroma, Ibrahim Abubakar, Abdullahi Umar Usman, and Babangida Muhammed Adamu Hammajam.
The entities named on the sanctions list are Abbal Bako & Sons Bureau De Change Limited, Generation Currency BDC Limited, and Nine to Nine BDC Limited.
The Federal Government has directed all financial institutions, Bureau De Change operators, and designated non-financial businesses to comply strictly with sanctions regulations, including asset-freezing measures, suspicious transaction reporting requirements, and mandatory disclosures to relevant authorities.
The Nigeria Sanctions Committee also commended the efforts of the Federal Ministry of Justice, Office of the National Security Adviser, Central Bank of Nigeria, Department of State Services, EFCC, and the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit for their roles in the investigation.
Reaffirming Nigeria’s commitment to combating terrorism financing, the committee stated that authorities would continue collaborating with international partners to deny terrorist organisations access to financial resources and ensure that terrorist financiers find no safe haven within the country’s financial system.
